“So that's it," I lean in to say. “One strike and I’m out, huh? You’re never going to give me a second chance." I take a step back, willing Ashley to stop me, willing myself to try harder before I walk away forever.
I take another step back, and Ashley tilts her head to one side. She’s chewing her lip and spinning the ring on her pointer finger, and just like that I’m transported through time. Times when I caught her doing that very thing, and it was always when she was holding back. Trying not to say whatever balanced on the tip of her tongue.
C’mon, Ash, just say it!
“Are you good, Ashley?” Annica asks, coming up behind her before looking at me. “Hi, Liam.”
My face flushes with heat. Their whole family probably views me as the jerk who broke Ashley’s heart. “Hey, Annica.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Ashley tells her sister. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Once Annica strides away, I take a step closer to Ashley. "Do you love him?" I ask, my voice breaking once again.
Ashley pins her lips closed, and her cheeks glow red.
A desperate part of me sees this as an opening door; even if it's just a crack, I'll shoot my shot. I step even closer, cup her elbows with my hands, and ask one more time. "Are you really in love with him? Like you were with me?”
The pause is painful—a space where my desperation crashes head-on with blind, reckless hope.
“Just tell me," I urge.
At last, she lifts her chin and gives me a curt nod. "I love him, Liam, and we’re getting married tomorrow.” She steps back and looks me up and down before meeting my eyes for maybe the last time ever. “Goodbye."
CHAPTER TWO
Ashley
Twenty-two years later
To call or not to call Liam Wheaton—that is the question.
I’m tempted to flip a coin and let heads or tails determine my fate. Why not? Years of careful consideration, tireless scrutiny, and the weighing of options are what got me here.
Over twenty years ago, Ross Brynn and I left Virginia Beach as a young married couple. Our hopes and dreams were a waiting runway, and our bright, glimmering future was lifting off with a flourish.
Two months ago, however, Ross and I returned as a divorced couple with two deflated teenagers.
The kids and I live with my parents and my deceased granddad’s second wife, Nini. Don’t ask how Mom and Dad got stuck with Nini, the perpetual grouch, but they did.
Ross, who’s renting a three-bedroom apartment nearby, says it’s wasteful for both of us to pay rent, especially since the kids and I can live at my parents’ for free.
I know what you’re thinking. We’renot married anymore, so why am I listening to him?
I don’t have a solid answer for that, but Icansay that my urge to stand up to the man I’m no longer married to grows stronger each day. In fact, I think I’m getting very close to doing something about it.
“Open a little wider and tilt your chin to the right,” I urge the dental patient reclined before me. It’s Loretta Sharon, my old piano teacher.
She turns her head just so, giving me—and the overhead light—perfect access to the lower quad I’m working on.
“Nice,” I praise. “Last section, and then we’re all done.”
I love being a dental hygienist. I enjoy nearly everything the job entails—meeting new patients, tracking their conditions as well as their life milestones over the years, and, of course, my favorite part—the dental cleanings. My tools aren’t made of gold or anything, but the stainless-steel collection is like a treasure, helping me swiftly remove plaqueandthe solidified form of plaque, calculus.
And don’t even get me started on one of the greatest dental tools invented—the ultrasonic. It actually uses soundwaves to break up tartar while simultaneously spraying it off the surface—talk about genius. No matter how thick and deep the buildup, I can get the surface squeaky clean, and that’s more satisfying than I can say.
Sometimes, a patient will have so much buildup that I have to tackle it a quadrant at a time. The upper left at one appointment and the upper right the next. The lowers get divided into two more visits until every tooth and gumline glistens.
Treating problems, often eliminating issues altogether, is rewarding work. It can be the difference between patients keeping their teeth or losing them due to eroded bone structure beneath the gums.
